Due to its iconic status, simplicity, and widespread availability, it is a difficult task to find a player who has not attempted or at least seen the first level of 1985 Nintendo title Super Mario Bros..

However, the number of people who stuck with it through to the end of such games naturally declined as the levels passed (particularly with a lack of ‘save’ options in the era), so for those people that did make it all the way to the castle and rescue the princess, a chance to enhance or ruin those 8-bit memories can be seen below.

A ‘gritty reboot’ of something is usually conceived with the idea of giving a darker edge to a popular character or series, attempting to draw new fans in the process, though this effort from YouTube channel ‘freddiew’ at least shows a little of the original throughout.

The clip, based on the final level of the sequel game Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988), sees Mario jumping over cannonballs to reach the castle and take on the series’ main villain Bowser, though with the difference of being 3D and in a first-person view.

This 2-minute animation, based on more recent character models of Mario and Bowser, is said to have taken 50 days to create, but the work (completed with software including After Effects, FumeFX, and 3ds Max), does seem to have paid off, reaching almost 2 million views at the time of writing since being uploaded 4 days beforehand (21 February).